Research desk
Analysis worth the time
Long reads on the forces moving African mining — prices, policy, capital and the projects that matter — built on sourced data, with our own reasoned view.
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- 11 Sept 2026
AnalysisTransnet's rail reform is real. For miners, it is not yet bankableEleven private operators have access agreements and Transnet is back in profit, but the contract terms still leave cargo owners carrying risks they cannot control- AnalysisEskom finally has power to spare. Mines are leaving the grid anywayRecord-low electricity sales, discounted smelter tariffs and a wave of mine-owned renewables show that the cost of power, not its supply, is now the problem
- AnalysisThree years of Sahel resource nationalism: a scorecard for Mali, Niger and Burkina FasoThe juntas have won bigger shares, a Barrick settlement and a uranium mine. Output and reserves tell a less flattering story
- OutlookThe Lobito Corridor after the photo opportunities: what it can and cannot carryFinancing has closed and Europe has taken the lead, but the railway's capacity is small next to Copperbelt output, and Zambia is still not connected
- AnalysisRevoke, nationalise, tender: Guinea's new model for its bauxiteA year after taking Emirates Global Aluminium's concession, Conakry is turning a state shell company into a bauxite producer and selling its ore by auction
- ExplainerExplainer: where South Africa's mining law rewrite stands, and the five clauses that matterA year after the draft Mineral Resources Development Bill was gazetted, the second draft is still with state lawyers. Here is what is in it and what the industry is watching
- AnalysisSouth Africa's exploration drought: seven years of decline and what might end itProspecting spend has fallen more than 85% in three decades. The state's new funds and mapping help at the margin, but the real bottlenecks are administrative
